NOVEL NEXT Book 1: Chapter 10
The Targeted Children
I finally learned Heal and obtained Light Sorcery After spending ten days training.
It felt like a long time but, ten days were astonishingly quick based on common senses. It really wasn’t a normal speed when the one doing it was a kid learning from zero.
However, it was worth it. My rank increased from zero to one. Your rank was based on the level of your highest level elemental sorcery or combat skill. With this I had cleared the minimum requirement to join the adventurer guild, but I had no intention to join immediately. Because if I didn’t obtain a level 1 close quarter combat skill at minimum, a child like me might immediately become a prey of the other adventurers.
I was continuing with my close quarter combat training, but I still hadn’t learned the skill. Should I continue with the combat training more, or should I investigate the meaning of Heal’s spell and raised my sorcery’s precision……. I also wanted to learn the other spell Cure, but my supplies would decrease to dangerous level soon, so I made up my mind to go to the town after so long.
Originally I planned to gather things that could be sold for money before I went to the town next time, but I was occupied with my sorcery training and couldn’t gather too much. The old man of the general store told me to bring him rabbit, but I would eat the rabbit myself if I managed to hunt one, and my dismantling was also still unskillful, so I didn’t think that I would be able to get a skin in a state that could be sold.
「……Can’t be helped.」
I was bringing the unique wild grasses that I found during my life in the forest for these three weeks. I wouldn’t be paid even if I brought detoxifying herb that was growing anywhere and used as household medicine or bug repellant grass that could be found relatively easily. It wasn’t like that they didn’t have any worth at all, but I would only get several bronze coins for a jute bag that was stuffed full with those grasses. It wasn’t worth it.
I was reading the handwritten medicinal herb book that woman stole from her teacher. At first I couldn’t read it unless I drew out vocabulary from my knowledge like searching a dictionary, but now I had become able to read if I was doing it slowly.
I managed to find a 『magical fragrant fruit』 by relying on that knowledge. This was a fruit that grew from a shrubbery that lived in a region with few magic particles. The flesh was only two or three millimeter thick and it was astringent, so it wasn’t suited for eating, but this fruit had the trait of storing magic particles in its seed in order to survive in a harsh environment.
Using this seed, 『magic potion』 to recover magic power could be created. The medicinal herb book also had the basic of alchemy written in it. I myself planned to start studying alchemy one day but right now I couldn’t do anything.
It was a stroke of fortune that I could find this magical fragrant fruit. There was only one tree of that type growing on a mountain’s cliff and it only had a few of the fruits that could be taken. But it would be better for me to sell them rather than just keeping them like this. Only the seed of this fruit had any use so I could keep them preserved for a long time, but it would be seen as a fresh product if the fruit part was still there and it could be sold with higher price.
.
I finished eating before departing. The dried vegetables and dried meat that I bought before were almost gone completely already. I used the last remaining scraps of the dried vegetables and dried meat to make a soup that was seasoned with only salt and drank it up.
The bowl and pot were something that I got from hardening clay with the daily life magic Hard and then burning it. It wasn’t good enough to be sold, but during these several weeks I became able to create something that was quite usable. The soup I created wasn’t delicious, but I felt like vitality was slightly welling up inside me when something warm entered my stomach, and in the first place I had resistance against frugal meal.
After that I took off my clothes at my base that was located at the upper stream of the small river and washed my body. An appearance that was completely like a street urchin wasn’t desirable. The other party would take advantage of me if they sized me up based on appearance, and street urchin that didn’t receive protection from the feudal lord was an easy target for robbery. That was why sometimes I would also wash my clothes, but perhaps I should buy new clothes soon?
My outfit was old clothes with relatively good quality, but it was getting frayed from my life in the forest. Furthermore due to my growing magic power, my body was also rapidly growing. My clothes that only reached until above the knees had become too short for me. It now only reached until halfway of my thighs. It wasn’t like it bothered me even if it got seen, but the troubles might increase if I got found out as a girl. I didn’t really understand why that would happen, but the “knowledge” told me that was how it was, so I should be careful.
Now then, let’s depart. When the sun was starting to set, I shouldered my bag and left the campsite. With my social status right now, the soldiers patrolling the road were the most troublesome factor for me. It would be troubling if they took me into custody because I was just a child, and I had no confidence that I would be able to run away if the soldiers turned out to be evil. However if it was night, I had night vision skill even if it was just at level 1, so I thought that I would be able to manage somehow.
It was an ability that I obtained by seeing color in magic particles, but its precision was definitely increasing through my life in the forest for these three weeks. The soldiers were troublesome but, they were also removing dangerous creatures like wolf for me, so night was safer for me.
I used body strengthening and started walking on the road without making any sound. I trained to match my magic particle with the surrounding to erase my presence while also training to move without any sound at the same time. What I learned from trying it out was that in order to erase sound, it wasn’t enough to just move slowly and quietly. I noticed that muscle strength was also important. If I used the muscle in my legs and my whole body to soften the impact, then the sound I created from moving would naturally get smaller. And then if I moved by matching the flow of magic particles around me, I would blend to the surrounding even more.
I used the body strengthening not to speed up, but to erase my sound by suppressing the impact from walking while walking through the path heading to the town faster than usual.
.
「……fuu」
A normal carriage would take half a day to travel from that campsite until the town. By walking you could reach the town at night if you left the campsite at early morning.
The first time I headed to the town, I left at morning and arrived at the town late at night the next day when it was nearing dawn. This time thanks to my increasing magic power, I became able to maintain my body strengthening. Perhaps it was thanks to that I was able to arrive to the town in around the same time with the first time though I left at night.
Even so I got really tired, so I slept until morning in the surrounding forest to recover my magic power and stamina. I should be able to become able to move immediately if I used Heal, but Feld said that it would become harder for my stamina to grow if I used magic to recover, so it would be better to not use it as much as possible during my training.
I slept on a tree and woke up when the bell rang out three times. It was eight o’clock in the morning. I infiltrated into the slum quarters from the usual place. I erased my presence by matching myself with the surrounding magic particles and also erased my walking sound with a way of walking that didn’t use my heels.
Thanks to obtaining stealth skill and search skill, fewer residents of slum quarters noticed me. But despite the “knowledge” that I had, I had few actual experiences so it would be better if I didn’t let my guard down.
「…………」
I felt something……a presence. What was this……I didn’t really understand. It wasn’t a presence that was easy to sense like Feld’s surging aura. To be more accurate this was a bit different from presence……should I call it an out of place feeling instead?
It wasn’t that there was something, this out of place feeling, it was like something that was always there wasn’t there now.
……Was it just my imagination? Even while thinking that, I fastened my pace a little and got out of the slum quarters. It didn’t feel really good, so let’s immediately left from this town after I finished shopping.
「So you’re here again huh……”ash smeared”.」
「…………」
When I passed the general store’s door, the old shop owner glared at me.
「Preserved food again?」
「Yes, do you have……something nutritious that can be kept for a long time?」
「Nutritious? You know about strange word even though you’re just a brat. I don’t know any food like that, but if you want something that can make you feel full then I have nuts.」
The owner scowled with irritation, even so he still went to the back of the shop and brought a smallish jute bag.
「It’s filled with some nuts. Five bronze coins.」
「……They are charred.」
The nuts were already roasted to make them lasted longer, but quite a lot of them were charred or cracked.
「I told you this is that kind of shop. Go to a proper shop if you want proper things.」
Perhaps this was leftovers that were gathered from stall or cart. Their appearance was bad and the taste was also bad. That was why they couldn’t be sold to customer but rather than throwing them away, it would be better to sell them even if the price was dirt cheap. Also there was also people like me who would buy even something like this as long as they were cheap.
「……Give me some extra.」
「I’ll give you extra if you buy a bit more. Got any more order?」
「Can you buy this kind of thing?」
I took out the magical fragrant fruits that I had from the bag I shouldered. The old shop owner’s eyes slightly widened, then he glared at me again.
「……Where did you get them from?」
「I picked them from inside the forest. I can’t explain where because there is no landmark.」
「……I see.」
What he saw from me seemed to convince him. After the shop owner understood that I wasn’t stealing them, he stared fixedly at the fruits before making a thinking gesture for a bit.
「Do you know what they are?」
「Of course.」
「……」
「……They aren’t that bad but they are uneven. And it looks like it has been some time since you picked them, so they are starting to spoil already. Taking into consideration of the time I’ll need to search for a buyer……I won’t be able to buy them with the regular price y’know?」
「No problem. This shop is that kind of shop after all.」
When I said that, the shop owner grandpa smiled slightly.
「There are six of them huh. Then I’ll buy them all with three silver coins. If you don’t like it then go to somewhere else.」
「I’m fine with that.」
I obediently nodded at the grandpa’s words. Perhaps it was half the price of the regular price. Most likely, even if I brought them to other shop, the chance was high that they would also size me up and reduced the price. Besides this grandpa, despite his fierce glare and curt attitude, I could feel his sincerity for business even when he was just facing a kid like me.
I also bought beans, dried meat, and also salt and sugar crystals even though they were slightly expensive. Perhaps buying dried vegetables would be cheaper from a street stall, but as I was thinking about what I should do, the door behind me opened and small silhouettes rushed in.
「You brats, don’t make a noise-!」
The two silhouettes that rushed in cowered from the grandpa’s angry yell. Children? As I turned around in puzzlement, one of them raised her voice before I could confirm their identity.
「Ah! Aria-!」
It was those siblings. The little sister Shuri yelled my name and hugged me. She had completely forgotten that they had gotten yelled at just now. The big brother Gil was looking alternately at me and Shuri and the shop owner in fluster. Then his gaze settled on me to run away from the grandpa’s sharp gaze.
「A-Aria, just where have you been huh-」
「Outside, why?」
It wasn’t like they were my comrade, and we also weren’t friend. I pushed away Shuri from me while casually answering him. Gil closed his mouth with a flinch before he suddenly remembered something and took out a sack.
「Even I can go outside-. I come here to sell the rabbit that I hunted outside yeah-」
「……Won’t it be better to eat it yourself?」
It looked like he had hunted rabbit outside the town, but perhaps it had taken him more effort than expected. The rabbit’s skin was ragged and its blood hadn’t even been drained out. When I calmly turned my gaze to the shop owner, the grandpa was sighing in irritation seeing the rabbit’s condition.
「Aria, have you grown taller?」
Shuri who was watching the exchange between Gil and me interrupted. I noticed it because of the increase of my magic power and the “growing pains”, but Shuri noticed because her eye level that was about the same with me when we met for the first time was lower now.
「By the way, why were you two in a rush like that just now?」
It would be a pain to explain it, so I changed the topic. That made Gil recalled what happened just now and clung on that topic.
「That’s right-! There is this strange uncle outside! He was sighing after staring hard at Shuri and me. It was unpleasant so we ran away here.」
「Hee……」
A strange uncle? Was it Feld? While I was thinking of such rude thing, the shop owner grandpa who seemed to be listening to our talk raised his voice.
「I heard recently there is an unfamiliar man hanging around in this area. From the way he is dressed and his stature, there is a rumor that he might be a thief. You brats, don’t get yourself kidnapped out there.」
「……Yes.」
Thief huh……troublesome. For me right now, such opponent would be several levels more troublesome than some unskillful soldier. Thief wasn’t just a mere robber or thug, they had Skill for the sake of stealing. Perhaps they also had some way to fight. They were managed by a criminal organization called Thief Guild that was like mafia. They wouldn’t do anything flashy that could cause the country to take action, but in the end they were people who only moved for the sake of money, so it couldn’t be predicted what kind of act they might perpetrate.
The feeling that felt like “presence” that I sensed when coming here might be that man. If that wasn’t just my imagination and he was really there, I felt that he was someone with skill that was far beyond the reach of the like of me.
……Let’s leave this town right away.
My shopping was only half finished, but I shouldn’t risk the danger, so I immediately headed toward the hole in the wall surrounding the town as soon as I left the shop. I used my stealth to shake off the siblings who were trying to follow me again and arrived in front of the exit. There I noticed the “presence” that I felt when I just arrived here.
To be more accurate it wasn’t a presence. But there was just something that was too conspicuous in its nonexistence that I felt something was out of place. If I assumed that 『the skilled thief』 was there, then perhaps this was 《stealth skill》 at work. My mind made that kind of connection.
When I quietly moved my gaze around, I noticed there were magic particles with unnatural “color”. If I tried to sense the magic particles, I wouldn’t notice because this out of place feeling was blending with the surrounding. But that strange magic particle color looked like “human shape”. When my gaze stopped there, that human shaped magic particle suddenly swelled up.
(Body strengthening!?)
I wouldn’t understand if I hadn’t directly felt Feld’s body strengthening before. No, it was mostly just a coincidence that I could arrive at such thought. The moment I thought that, I had leaped to the side almost unconsciously. A moment later, an iron blade stabbed the spot where I was standing on just now.
「Hoo……」
A man appeared with his human presence registering in my senses. It seemed that his stealth had been removed. The man threw a manly smirk at me who had just dodged his throwing knife.
「Looks like I’ll be able to enjoy this a little.」